A. At this point, we’re aiming for spring 2009, but that could easily change. (And by change, I mean “take even longer.” It’s definitely not coming out in 2008.)

Q. Will it have the cute little Penguin logo on it?

A: No. We’re actually being published by Perigee Books, an imprint of Penguin. I wasn’t specific yesterday because there were editors at two different imprints who wanted the book, so we got a house bid from Penguin and had to choose between them. Both editors were fucking awesome, but we eventually chose Perigee. And I don’t even know what the Perigee logo is. Update, after a trip to Borders: it’s… a P. Woo hoo. Sorry, everybody.

Q. What’s the book about?

A. It’s a practical guide to liking (if not yet loving) your body at any size. We’ll be talking about specific, concrete things you can do to become more comfortable in/with your body — none of that “light a candle, take a bubble bath, meditate on your inner goddess” shit. (Apologies to those who like those things and/or like books about those things, but they never did jack shit for me, body image-wise.)

Q. What’s it called?

A. This will probably change before publication, but the working title is SCREW INNER BEAUTY: HOW TO LIKE THE BODY YOU’VE GOT.

Q. How are you going to blog AND write a book?

Hey, better women than me have done it with full-time jobs; I don’t think it’ll be a problem. It probably will take me a little while to figure out a new writing routine, and it’s possible my posts will be sparse and/or sucky during that time. BUT. That is the miracle of co-bloggers and a co-author. My posts here might be temporarily sucky, but the blog will remain awesome under the power of Fillyjonk and Sweet Machine. And thanks to The Rotund, I actually only have to write half a book. So it’ll be cool.

Q. Are you going on tour/coming to my town?

A. No clue at this point. If you’re asking, “Is Perigee going to spend gobs of money to send you two all over the country, providing whimsical, book-themed cocktails and delicious canapes at each venue?” then FUCK NO. (Of course, if y’all make this a massive bestseller, that could happen with the next book!) But we’ll do our damnedest to travel as much as possible when the book comes out, and we’d love to meet you.

Q. Will it be published in Canada/the U.K./wherever I live?

A. No clue about that yet, either. Perigee’s got North American rights, so a Canadian edition or distribution there is up to them. Everywhere else in the world is still up for grabs, and there are great people working on selling us wherever they can.

54 thoughts on “More on the Book”

Oh and if your publisher’s aren’t willing to host glam book parties in all our luverly major metropolitian areas, know that you both are totally welcome to use my backyard for your NYC party, so long as you don’t mind having a hungry beagle at your feet and my old-world Italian neighbors peeking at you over the fence.

I hope it comes to Canada because otherwise I’m gonna have to do a dash across the border to Seattle to pick up a copy. Or ten, because I imagine I’m going to want to give it out to everyone I know. Congrats!

Many congratulations to the both of you! If you guys end up swinging through Seattle on tour (or actually just north of Seattle), I’d be happy to make some baby donuts for brunch or give you a place to crash. Three big fat cheers! Hip hip hooray!

I sometimes think I’m the only woman who doesn’t give two shits about bubble baths and finds them incredibly boring lol. And I bought a soaking tub specially for that purpose – thought if it were big enough I’d like them more. Nope. Still no. Besides I always get my damn book wet or something. Gah.

Fantastic and fabulous! Great title and great press! You’ve got friends and few mardi gras beads in New Orleans if you ever make it to the Big Easy/ Crescent City/Tawdry Lady/ the City that Care forgot.

NYC party! NYC party! (Also, it is extremely likely that I work insanely close to your publishers and, if I’m right about this, then you should know that there’s one hell of a serious hot chocolate place on the corner. My treat, any time.)

OH! and if you come to the DC area, crash at my place and I’ll do my best to get a book review in the local (HUGE) paper and the local (small) paper as well as a signing set up at my local “megabookstore”. (They don’t do enough of those, anyway!) BUT NO PROMISES!

Nope, not a preposition: “you’ve got” is a contraction of “you have got,” which is a proper verb phrase (present perfect tense, I think). Now, IIRC “have got” is an Americanism, but it’s properly constructed.

And lauredhel is right, the preposition thing (though accepted by many style guides) is really a myth; apparently that “rule” was pulled out of thin air by Dryden in a petty moment. (Curse you, Dryden!)

Ditto to everything lauredhel and Sweet Machine said — and beyond that, we deliberately chose “You’ve Got” over “You Have” because it better conveys the colloquial voice of the book.

Marianne and I both have loads of editorial experience, as does our agent, who went over the proposal very carefully. You can trust that if there’s a grammatical “mistake” somewhere as obvious as the title, it’s on purpose.

BWAH, Miss Prism! (And props to you for busting me on misspelling “googol.”)

I’m thinking The Pedants could also have hits with “There Is No Mountain High Enough” and “It doesn’t mean a thing if you haven’t that swing.” Perhaps “It is not what you do, it is the way that you do it” as well.

Also, The Pedants version of “Always Something There to Remind Me” would go, “I was born to love YOU/and I will never be free/you’ll always be a part of me,” because the “born to love her” thing has driven me FUCKING INSANE since I was 8 years old.

MissPrism, I will totally volunteer to be lead or backup pedant, whatever is most needed. We will of course cover “(I cannot get any) Satisfaction,” “Cannot Buy Love (for Me),” and “It Is Not Me, Baby.”